Mooseheads back on track

Matthew Boudreau continued to fill the net and the Halifax Mooseheads got back in the win column Wednesday night in Bathurst, N.B.

Boudreau scored twice to improve his season total to 29 goals and the Mooseheads soundly defeated the Titan 7-2 in front of 1,440 fans at the K.C. Irving Centre. The win comes after a season-worst two-game losing streak for Halifax.

“When you look at the Saint John game, the goalie pretty much won the game for them and then we didn’t like our game against P.E.I. at all,” said Halifax head coach Dominique Ducharme. “We wanted to bounce back after those two losses and that’s what we did tonight.”

Boudreau also had an assist and linemates Darcy Ashley and Luca Ciampini had a goal and three assists each. Boudreau is now just four goals off the league goal-scoring lead and the line swept the three star selections.

“I liked the game from that line,” Ducharme said. “Those guys put up big numbers again. But I thought in the first part of the game, (Brent) Andrews’ line set the tone. They had a few really good shifts and that got us momentum. Then (Stephen) MacAulay’s line also had a solid first period and scored two goals. They had a good game.

“But obviously Boudreau’s line stepped in and scored some goals for us.”

MacAulay, Dominic Beauchemin and Andrew Ryan also scored for Halifax. The goal was MacAulay’s first as a Moosehead. Defenceman Matt Murphy also made his Halifax debut and recorded an assist.

“I liked what he did and the way he looked tonight,” Ducharme said. “The more the game went, the more comfortable he looked. He’ll get even better when he gets some practice with us but he played a good game.”

Zachary Fucale made 18 saves in the Halifax net. Andrew Meredith and Adam Zboril were the Bathurst goal scorers and Jacob Brennan and Samuel Sirois combined to stop 32 shots.

The news wasn’t all good for the Mooseheads. They lost defenceman Brendan Duke to a shoulder injury in the first period after he fought Bathurst forward Marc-Olivier Brouillard. There is no word yet on how serious it is.

“We’ll find out more about it in the next couple of days,” Ducharme said. “Right now we don’t know much.”

Olympiques 7, Screaming Eagles 0: At Sydney, defenceman Etienne Boutet opened the game with a natural hat trick and goalie Robert Steeves made 22 saves to earn the shutout for Gatineau.

David Honzik faced 56 shots in the Cape Breton net.

Foreurs 5, Voltigeurs 1: At Val-d’Or, Que., former Mooseheads defenceman Randy Gazzola picked up an assist in his first game with the Foreurs.

Drakkar 4, Phoenix 3: At Baie-Comeau, Que., Gabryel Paquin-Boudreau snapped a 3-3 tie with 2:24 left in the third period.

Notes: Halifax forwards Marty Frk, Jonathan Drouin and Nathan MacKinnon are still resting after the world juniors so they did not play on Wednesday. They will return to the lineup on Friday at home against the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada. ... Former Mooseheads defenceman Steve Gillard has decided to join the Woodstock Slammers of the Maritime Junior A Hockey League for the second half of the season, while goalie Anthony Terenzio will play for the Whitecourt Wolverines of the Alberta Junior Hockey League.